Rebleeding and prognosis of patients with liver cirrhosis and severe esophagogastric variceal bleeding

Abstract

Objective To investigate the risk factors for rebleeding within 5 years and the influencing factors for 5-year survival in patients with liver cirrhosis and severe esophagogastric variceal bleeding (EVB). Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for 129 patients with liver cirrhosis who attended Tianjin Third Central Hospital from May 2012 to May 2014 due to severe EVB for the first time, with a follow-up time of 5 years. Related clinical data were analyzed, including age, sex, cause of liver cirrhosis, presence or absence of infection at the first time of bleeding, liver stiffness measurement (LSM), splenic stiffness measurement (SSM), portal vein diameter, biochemical parameters, rebleeding time, and prognosis. Esophagogastric variceal rebleeding was defined as the primary endpoint and death was defined as the secondary endpoint. The t-test was used for comparison of continuous data between two groups, and the chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups; a logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the independent risk factors for rebleeding, and a Cox regression analysis was used to analyze the predictive indicators for 5-year survival in EVB patients; the Kaplan-Meier curve was used to analyze the cumulative non-rebleeding rate. Results Among the 129 patients, 87(67.4%) experienced rebleeding during follow-up. There were significant differences between the rebleeding group and the non-rebleeding group in the proportion of patients with alcoholic cirrhosis (χ2=4.896, P=0.027), portal vein diameter (t=2.203, P=0.030), LSM(Z=-2.771, P=0.006), and SSM(t=2.678, P=0.010). The patients with alcoholic cirrhosis had a significantly higher mean number of times of bleeding than those with non-alcoholic cirrhosis (all P Conclusion Alcoholic cirrhosis, LSM, and SSM are independent risk factors for rebleeding within 5 years in EVB patients, and age, times of bleeding, portal vein diameter, and presence or absence of infection at the first time of bleeding are associated with 5-year survival.